672 Hi, S. WILETAMS: 
first International Congress of Geologists met in Paris. The 
chief purpose of this congress, as set forth in the first article of 
its programme was, ‘ Le’untfication des travaux géologique au point 
de vue de la nomenclature et du figure,” which in English is —the 
attainment of uniformity in the naming, classifying and mapping 
of geological facts. At Paris papers were read and discussions 
were held, but few results were reached beyond the appointment 
of commissions to prepare for definite future work. At the 
second meeting, held in Bologna in 1881, a commission was 
appointed with power delegated to take the necessary steps for 
the making of a geological map of Europe. The discussions at 
this congress and at the next, held in Berlin in the year 1885, 
and the work of the commissions meeting at Foix in 1882, at 
Zurich in 1883, at Geneva in 1886 and at Manchester in 1887, all 
were directed toward the perfecting of a system of nomenclature, 
classification and cartography upon which to construct this 
European map. The map necessarily covered the territory of a 
number of independent states, whose geological surveys had 
been carried on independently by men speaking in several 
different tongues, and it was necessary to reach uniformity in 
nomenclature and method of representation of the facts for all 
these European states, in order to construct that map. Although 
the map was not then complete, at the time of meeting of the 
London Congress in 1888, the great majority of the disputed 
questions had been settled. In many cases the agreements were 
rather compromises, necessitated for the execution of a common 
map, than real settlement of the disputed points, or the attain- 
ment of actual uniformity in usage. 
Thus the European classification and nomenclature, as set 
forth in the decisions of the congresses previous, it may be said, 
to St. Petersburg, were incident to the preparations of a geo- 
logical map of Europe, and should not be regarded as constitut- 
ing a universal scheme, any more than that devised for the 
preparation of a geological map for a similarly restricted area 
in another continent. Some American geologists realized this 
fact and, while taking deep interest in the discussions and the 
